Lubricating apparatus



Sept. 1952 o. R. HAAS 2,609,891.

LUBRICATING APPARATUS Filed April 50, 1948 I Inventor 4z Ozzo iii-Haas 44 I b I A Patented Sept. 9, 1952 LUBRICATING APPARATUS Otto RrHaas, Wenham, Massl, assignor to-United Shoe Machinery Corporation; ,Flemington, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application April 30, 1948, Serial No. 24,122

The present invention relates to automatic lubrication of machine parts and more particu- =larly to improvements-in the "lubrication ofmachines in whichminute quantities only of lubricant are metered and delivered to the respective parts, any excess of lubricant tending to flood the machine or damage the work being operated upon. Ashereinafter described, one construction of lubricating apparatus is arranged with a reser- ,;voir within which a plurality of flow restrictive (nozzles are mounted, each nozzle being calibrated to admit under uniform pressure a few drops of lubricant per hour. i

In an application for United States Letters Patent. Serial No. 19,716, filed April 8,1948, in

,the name ofiPercy White there is disclosed apparatus forautomatically lubricating the operatin parts ofqa machine periodically by volu metric measurement. This type of apparatus 1 difi'ers fromthe present type in which lubricant under pressure is metered continuously by nozzles having flow restrictive orifices of a size selected in accordancewith the lubrication requirements of the respective parts. Where lubricant is delivered under a uniform pressure a continuous flowis easily maintained but to avoid variation in flow asa result of clogging it is necessary to employ an extremely fine mesh filter in the supply line for the metering nozzles. If a machine is frequently started and stopped it is also desirable to discontinue fiow of lubricant from .the nozzles during the times the machine is stopped, but it is difficult to cut off the flow of lubricant instantaneously from the nozzles merely by stopping the supply. This is because most lubricants are readily compressible and merely stopping the supply to the nozzles does not relieve the pressure for some time because the leakage through the nozzles isinsufficient to reduce the compression of the lubricant effectively. Furthermore, this difficulty is accentuated by the presence of air bubbles entrapped within the lubricating system. The compressibilityof the air bubbles adds to the compressibility of the fluid in thesystem to further delay the pressure relief on the metering nozzles. the lubricant above the level of the nozzles also tends to cause gradual seepage through the nozzles by gravity even after the compressionv is fully relieved.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a metering nozzle type lubricating apparatus in which the difficulties enumerated are avoided and by which the fiow of lubricant to each part may instantaneously be cut oil whenever the machine to which the apparatus The weight of 6 Claims. (cums) is applied is brought to rest without seepage or delay in pressure relief on the nozzles.

l 1 Another obiectvis to provide ametering type lubricating apparatus arranged to prevent flow of lubricant through a restrictive nozzle either by gravity or by other causes when it is desired to cut off the flow. r

The apparatus embodying the. present invention is arranged to be applied to a machine having an operating part, driving means such as a clutch for starting andstopping said part, a control member for the driving means, a reservoir for lubricantconnected to a series of flow restrictive nozzles for lubricating the part, and means for supplying pressure to the lubricant in the reservoir, in which there is p ovided a valve operatively connected to the control member having ports and lubricant connections for venting the pressure in the reservoir when the driving means is rendered inoperative, thus immediately preventing further flow of lubricant through the nozzle. 7

In accordance with this feature of the invention the venting is accomplished by atwo-way valve in one position of, which the lubricant is supplied under pressure to the reservoir when the driving means is rendered operative andin the other position ofwhich thesupply is stopped and the pressure vented. To prevent clogging of the nozzle a fine mesh filter is employed, and in this form of the embodiment, the valve supplies lubricant indirectly to the reservoir through the filter, the reservoir vent by-p-assing the filter.

Themachine to which the present apparatus is applied is provided with driving means including a main shaft, a countershaft and driving gears therebetween. To lubricate the driving gears, according to a further feature of the invention, one of the venting outlets is directed against the gears. As illustrated, an excess pressure relief valve is provided to discharge lubricant while the machineis running and is arranged with a second outlet, also directed against the driving gears so that these gears receive lubricant both while the machine is at rest and while running.

These and other features of the invention consist in the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed which, together with the advantages to be obtained thereby, will readily be understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which,

cant from a sump l0 and supply it under suit.- I

able pressure to the filter. The nozzles are located directly above the operating parts of the machine and are constructed to pass'minute quantitiesof,

lubricant at rates of from one to twenty drops an hour.

For operating the machine it is provided with a main vertical drive shaft [2, a countersha-ft I4 and a main driving clutch IS mounted at the 1 upper end of the drive shaft l2. Theoperating parts of the machine include a horizontal sewing .sha'ft ts, cams Zt -and 22 and a helical gear 24 driven :by a similar gear 26/ To drive the operatin gpartsthe gear-2t is connected for rotation by c the Clutch 1% with the drive shaft l2. The. main drive and countershafts l2 and M are rotated together by gears 28 and are driven continuously by a'suitable source-of power (not shown).

recon-m1 the. clutch it, connections are projvidd, as more fully described in the said patent,

including a clutch" operating member 38 secured "'to'apivot shaft 32,-2. rods; connected between "the clutch actuating member and a lever 36 fulcrumed on theframe ofthe'machine. The lever is'nga'gedby the upper end of a rod 38 pivoted at its lower end to a lever id connected inturn through alink' 52 with a foot treadle lever {t The arrangement is such that when the tread le is depressed the clutch control member 39 causes the clutch to bc engaged and when the treadle is released the clutch is disengagedand rendered inoperative to drive the machine.

7 To enable theres ervoir 2 to-besupplied with the lubricant under pressure so that thelubricant will be forced through the nozzles 4 {onto the operating parts of the machine, the upper rim of the reservoir has clamped to it a cover hermetically sealed therewith and the cover has a threaded opening within which is mounted a pressure gage '48.

.Inthe present apparatus as originally constructed, the pump was directly connected to the .filterso'that a constant supply of lubricant was furnished to the reservoir and the nozzles A,

"causing continuous lubrication of the operating parts of the machine to which it was applied 'whetherqthe sewing'shaft was rotated or not. It was found, however, that often times excess lubricant was accumulated on the opfi atins parts of the machine while stationary if the clutch is was, left disengaged for a substantial period of time; When themachine was reclutch was disengaged. The. use of .such valve ,alonephowever, was found inadequate since the lubricant was'compressed within the reservoir 2,

and merely stopping the supply to the reservoir 7 did not reduce the pressure sufficiently to prevent excess accumulations on the machine parts. This condition was aggravated by the presence of air bubbles, indicated at 50, frequently found in the reservoir, the air bubbles adding substantially to the compressibility of the fluid within the reservoir and to the delay of pressure relief.

It is thus apparent with'the use'of nozzles 4 which admit flow of lubricant at the rate of a few drops an hour, that merely stopping the supply of 'lubricantto the reservoir will cause pressure reduction only after a substantial amount of lubricant-has-passed through the nozzles and allowed to: form undesirable accumulations. The use of the filter fi further accentuates the difficulty by retarding prompt pressure relief through the filter in a direction reverse to that of the usual flow.

To insure that the flow of lubricant through the nozzles .4 will be cut offinstantaneously whenever the ;c1utch.i16. disengaged, according to the present invention; the-reservoir 2 is vented to the -..atmosphere whenever the supply of lubricant is stopped. 'Eor this purpose the reservoiris convnected with .the filterit by a tube..52 which is joined Y :through a T connection 54 with apart 56 in a two-wayvalve comprising a. body- 53 and a cylindrical slide 66 within avertical bor'eBZin the body 758. The 'slidelfiilis operatively'connected to the clutch control member ti! and is arranged to cover or uncover the part 55 whi'ch -is vented through the upper end of the bore 52 when the port is uncovered.

' valve-also acts to supply and stop the flow of lubricantfrom thefilterl For this purposethe -slide"fit has a reduced mid-section and-parallel passages M andfifi in the body of the valve interj sect-the bore .62. The passage 64 connectsa pressure supply tube 68 running from the-pump '8 to the filter 6 when the 'valve' slide israised,

the filter beiing connected to the passage' fid through-a vertical passage 10 into which is fitted a tube 72 connected with the filter. When the valveslide is loweredthe supplyis stopped and the filter disconnected from the pump. Y

To vent the fiow'of lubricant frointhe' pump after the supply to the filter is stopped'so that the pumpm'ay'continue'to run-the passage BB is connected by a short vertical passage -14 to the supply passagefi l. 'The passage 66 intersects the bore-52 throng-h ventingports which arecovered and uncovered by the slide 60. When the valve slide is lowered a supply-pass age fit-is stopped and the vent passage 66' opened by a reduced section of the slide, as shown in the drawing. Thus; the lubricating system is vented at two points atthe same time. 7 n I It will be noted that the slide is sopropprtioned and the length of the reduced sectionis such that the ports in the vent passage 66 will be opened before those of the supply passage 54 .are completely closed by the upper ,end .of the slide. Thus, there is an overlapin theopen'ing of these ports. Accordingly, excessive pressures are avoided in the supply tub,e 6 8, from the pump and the lubricant supply is stopped gradually rather than abruptly as the slide is lowered. Furthermore, the vent port 58 in the bore.6;2 is located to be uncovered .at the extreme lower end ofthe slide strokenso that .the reservoir is vented only. when the ,tread-le it is moved dennitely. to a stopping position. For this reason unnecessary pressure. fluctuations vwithin the reservoir pipe .52 will be avoided. Also because .tained at the desired rate.

theports in the supply passage are closed after the venting port 56 is opened there will be no tendency to reverse the now oflubricant 'through the filter as a result of back pressure in the reservoir. Ingthis way the'filter is maintained in a better operating condition sincedeposits of foreignmaterial will be retained in fixed position on *the frltering medium without frequent displacement. i

The pump 8 is driven through apump shaft by the ventoutlet 84. As soon as the clutch is engaged to start the sewing shaft the vent pas-, sage 66 is closed and the supply passage lfi l opened. As soon as the supply passage 64 is opened lubricant is directed. against the gears through the outlet 82 in theform of a tube extending downwardly from a pressure relief valve 86 connected with the supply passage 64. The fioW of lubricant through the filter and the nozzles 4 is extremely small as compared to the capacity of the pump 8 sothat the greater portion of the lubricant is vented through the pressure relief valve and the outlet 82 against the gears.

Some of the lubricant not used by the operating parts 20, 22 and 24 also finds its way downward 1y onto the gears and eventually into the sump To connect the valve slide 60 with the control member the lever 36 has a lateral extension formed with a perforation within which is pivotally mounted a slotted block 88. The slotted portion of the block 88 surrounds a reduced portion near the lower end of the slide between the body of the slide and a head at its lower end provided to confine the relative vertical movements of the block on the slide.

The construction and arrangement of the lubricating apparatus of the invention is particularly adapted for a machine requiring continuous lubrication with minute quantities of lubricant while a machine is running, in which the application of lubricant is immediately cut off when the machine is brought to rest. This result is obtained by accurately metering the flow of lubricant through orifices in the nozzles under a constant pressure.

To insure effective constant pressure regulation, the pump 8 is made to provide a volume of flow several hundred times greater than the quantity metered through the nozzles 4. By so doing, the size of the pump is made adequate to cause leakage in the system to be ineffective in reducing the pressure. To the extent that the pressure is kept uniform, the lubrication is main- The pressure applied through the supply tubing and vented through the relief valve ordinarily never exceeds four pounds, at which pressure the nozzles 4 provide a reliable metering action.

In order to prevent positively any seepage through the nozzles as a result of a gravity head in the lubricant above the nozzles while the operating parts are at rest, the tube 52 enters the reservoir 2 as close as possible to the bottom and :the p'ressureisapplieds l l ,6 the venting port- 56 is located approximately a foot below the reservoir. With this arrangement the venting action of the port 56 actually applies a slight degree of suction to thereservoir,

as indicated by'the gage 48, offsetting any possible'efiect of gravityhead above the nozzles and avoiding any possibility of flowth'rough the nozzles when the operating parts of thevmachine are at rest. The tube 52 and the port56 thus provide a source' of suction when the port is opened. a While the illustrated "machine is provided with a reservoir 2 of substantial size in whicha comparatively large quantity of lubricant is stored,

such a reservoir is not essentialto the effective operation of the apparatus, particularly 'whena singlemetering nozzle only is required. In some instancesit is' sufiicient only to run a supply tube directly between the'filter and the nozzle, thestorage capacity of the tube providingadequate supply of lubricant to the nozzle each time The nature and scope :ofthe inventionh'aving beenindicated and apar'ticular embodiment having been described, .What is claimed is: i

1. An apparatus for metering lubricantnto an operating machine part, driving means for which "is rendered operative and inoperative by a control member, havinga reservoir for the lubricant, means for supplying pressure to the lubricant, a restrictive nozzle connected to the reservoir for delivering a minute quantity of'lubricant to the operating part and a filter through which lubricant is supplied tothereservoir, in co'mbination with a two-way valve operatively connected to the control member having ports and lubricant connections for supplying lubricant under pressure from the pressure supplying means to the filter when the driving means is rendered operative and for venting the reservoir between the filter and the reservoir when the driving means is rendered inoperative.

2. An apparatus for metering lubricant to an operating machine part, driving means for which is rendered operative and inoperative by a control member, having a shallow reservoir for lubricant, means for supplying pressure to the lubricant, a restrictive nozzle in the bottom of the reservoir for delivering a minute quantity of lubricant to the operating part, and a hermetically sealed cover plate for the reservoir to enable pressure to be applied to the nozzle, in combination with a valve operatively connected to the control member having ports and lubricant connections for supplying lubricant under pressure to the reservoir when the driving means is rendered operative and provided with a port for venting the reservoir located at a substantially lower level than the reservoir to apply suction to the nozzle when the driving means is rendered inoperative.

3. An apparatus for metering lubricant to an operating machine part, driving means for which is rendered operative and inoperative by a control member, having a restrictive nozzle for delivering a minute quantity of lubricant to the operating part of the machine, a filter for the lubricant before it passes through the nozzle and a continuously driven lubricant pump, in combination with a valve having ports and lubricant connections to vent the pressure at two points, between the filter and the nozzle-and between the pump and the filter.

4. An apparatus for metering lubricant to an operating machine part, driving means for which 17 jincludeszaedrive shaft, acountershaft gears be- :'tween saidshafts, a clutch, and a control member for'the clutch,,having a lubricantpump driven from the drivingmeans, a restrictiveinozzle for delivering a minute quantity of lubricant to the Operating part of the machine and .a 'filter for -the.lubric ant"before it passes through the nozzle, in combination with a valve having a slide, ports and lubricant connections to vent the lubricant 'between'thefilter andthe nozzle and between the pump and the filter, and an outlet connecitionffor one of the venting ports of the valve directed'against said gears.

v5. An-apparatus for metering lubricant t van operating-machine part, driving means for which includes .a '"driveishaft, a countershaft, gears between 'saidshafts, ta clutch,=and-a control'memher for the clutch, having a lubricant pump driven from the driving means, a restrictive nozzle for delivering a minute quantity of lubricant to the operating part of the machine and a filter for the lubricant before it passes through the ber for the clutch, having a lubricant pump driven from the driving means, a restrictive nozzle for delivering aminute quantity of lubricant to the operating part of the machine and a filter ,for the lubricant before it passes through the nozzle, in combination with a valve having a slide, ports and lubricant connections to vent the lubricant between the filter and the nozzle and between the pump and the filter, an outlet connection for one of the venting ports directed against said gears, and a pressure relief valve connected between the pump and the filter hav- REFERENCES CITED y The following references are of record in the file of this patent: V

N TED STATES PATENTS nozzle-in combination with a valve having a Number Name Date,

slide, ports and lubricant connectionsto vent the 1,291,038 Green Oct. 10,1916 lubricant between the 'filter and the nozzle and 25 1,209,851 Koch 1 Dec..29;'1916 between the pump and the filter, an outlet con- 1,632,775 Bijur June 14,- 1927 motion for one of the venting ports of the valve 1 1,723,945 McCutcheon Aug. 6 19-29 directed-againstsaid gears, and a pressure relief 1,953,824 Blanchard Apr.3, 1934 'valvefor the lubricant between the pump and the 2,195,209 Gieskieng Mar. 26,1940 filter. 30 2,229,655 Kocher Jan; 28, 1941 .6. An-apparatus for metering lubricant to an a --operating:machine part, driving means for which FOREIGN PATENTS includesa drive shaft, a countershaft, gears be- Number Country Date tween saidshafts, a clutch, and a control-mem- 343,552 Germany Nov. 3,1921

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